2012 Wish List: What MLive Detroit wants for Christmas next year

As most five-year-olds will tell you, it's never too soon to start making your Christmas list. So with the 2011 holiday behind us, MLive Detroit is turning our attention to 2012, approaching the year with the wide-eyed optimism of a child writing to the North Pole.

Dear Santa, please bring Detroit the following in 2012:

DARTA Now!: It’s time for metro Detroit to join the 1970s and form a regional transit authority. The long-discussed Detroit Area Regional Transit Authority could consolidate and coordinate SMART, DDOT, and People Mover operation as well as run the proposed bus rapid transit system and Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail. One might even imagine a regional authority finding a way to revive the Woodward Light Rail plan. Even if light rail weren’t in the cards, a streamlined transit system that eliminated overhead and improves services would be a huge step forward. -- Jeff Wattrick

Robust redevelopment: It would be nice for development in Detroit to spread beyond downtown, Midtown and Corktown. Yes, it's nice that Dan Gilbert is playing Monopoly in the central business district and that pop-up shops continue to, well, pop up, but there are empty storefronts across major streets that cut through still-populated neighborhoods. While it's important to attract new residents to developing areas, let's also give incentives to people already here to stay. -- Aaron Foley

A Detroit Works Project that works: I’d like to see this new Detroit Works Project effectively communicate with citizens about what kinds of changes are needed – and then communicate to the region at large what exactly they mean to do before Bing leaves office. Also, I’d like to see private investors follow the lead of Hatch Detroit by making more start-up capital available to worthy and creative entrepreneurs. -- Ashley C. Woods

An extended auto rebound: The U.S. auto industry continues its turnaround to pre-recession sales levels of 16 to 17 million per year. -- Mike Wayland

Anything but bankruptcy: After years of flirting with financial disaster, 2012 will be a make or break year for the city of Detroit. The city appears to have three options to avoid insolvency by April, perhaps sooner. Of those options, bankruptcy would be the hardest pill for residents to swallow. A consent agreement would allow elected officials one last shot at righting the ship, and an emergency manager at least would be appointed the elected governor. If the city falls into bankruptcy, however, a federal judge with little or no connection to the city of state could be calling the shots. -- Jonathan Oosting